Forty years ago, Apollo 11 took off with 3 astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and journeyed to the moon. The lunar module, codenamed Eagle landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.
I vividly remember that night in 1969..we gathered in front of that old Black & White TV and watched the grainy footage of the lunar landing and then hearing those famous words as Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. NASA has put on their website enhanced photos of that historic voyage at NASA-Apollo
This lunar landing was the culmination of an extraordinary endeavor, led by the public sector. There was an incredible amount of innovation throughout the years that came about because calculated risks were taken to achieve the common objectives.
There are lessons for all of us from this incredible undertaking.
Showing posts with label Risk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Risk. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Innovation and Risk
This week the Globe & Mail's ROB interviewed Tim Jackson, a Venture Capitalist from Kitchener-Waterloo. His message about calculated risk-taking in order to innovate and learning from our failures resonates.
I've known Tim, who is a partner in Tech Capital Partners for many years (all the way back to student politics days). In his interview he talks about learning from our failures and not being afraid to take calculated risks. The message he has for the private sector is one that applies amply to the public sector.
To link to the article in the Globe & Mail and the video.
We bemoan the minutest failures in government - they usually end up in BIG headlines in the newspaper - without realizing that, just as in life, not everything works out perfectly. This risk-averseness has resulted in the stifling of innovation and creativity and the explosion of so-called "accountability" agreements, which are nothing more than rules, rules and more rules. We forget that it is sometimes OK to fail as we can learn a lot from the failures. Now, if you keep repeating the same failure & you don't learn anything from them and you take unnecessary risks then you should be held to account.
Just as Tim espouses the need to "celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, and understand that failure is okay. You can't innovate without failure" in the private sector, I strongly believe that we need to celebrate innovation in the public sector as well.
I've known Tim, who is a partner in Tech Capital Partners for many years (all the way back to student politics days). In his interview he talks about learning from our failures and not being afraid to take calculated risks. The message he has for the private sector is one that applies amply to the public sector.
To link to the article in the Globe & Mail and the video.
We bemoan the minutest failures in government - they usually end up in BIG headlines in the newspaper - without realizing that, just as in life, not everything works out perfectly. This risk-averseness has resulted in the stifling of innovation and creativity and the explosion of so-called "accountability" agreements, which are nothing more than rules, rules and more rules. We forget that it is sometimes OK to fail as we can learn a lot from the failures. Now, if you keep repeating the same failure & you don't learn anything from them and you take unnecessary risks then you should be held to account.
Just as Tim espouses the need to "celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, and understand that failure is okay. You can't innovate without failure" in the private sector, I strongly believe that we need to celebrate innovation in the public sector as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
